Polish PM injured in car accident — Govt spokesman

WARSAW: Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo was hospitalised with minor injuries on Friday after a car struck her government vehicle in the southern city of Oswiecim, a government spokesman said.

“Prime Minister Beata Szydlo is in good condition. She will undergo additional routine tests in Warsaw,” government spokesman Rafal Bochenek said in a tweet on his official Twitter feed.

The 53-year-old prime minister was riding in a motorcade when the Fiat vehicle struck, forcing her car off the road where it crashed into a tree.

Two security agents were also injured.

Bochenek told the TVN24 commercial news channel that Szydlo’s injuries were “mainly bumps and bruises caused by her seat belt.”

He declined to say how many days Szydlo is expected to spend in hospital.

Szydlo was being transferred by helicopter to a Warsaw hospital late Friday where she is expected to remain under observation.

State prosecutors have opened an investigation into the crash.

“We’re with you Beato and we’re sure that after a brief stay in hospital, you’ll be back with us again leading the government,” Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the powerful head of Szydlo’s rightwing Law and Justice (PiS) party, told supporters at a Friday memorial meeting in Warsaw.

The gatherings are held each month for his late twin brother, former president Lech Kaczynski, who died in a 2010 jet crash in Russia.

Friday’s car crash was just the latest road incident involving a senior Polish government official. — AFP